Untitled
by The Soul Piper
Summary: Sequel to MHS. Though they're in their final year of high school, they still have lots to learn. When everything seems to be falling apart in front of them, how will they handle life? still a ff slash
1. Grade 12

**Warning: This is STILL a slash, but there will be some hetero in here. If you don't like that stuff, just do me a favor and leave. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to Disney.**

**A/N: This is the sequel for Memorize Her Smile. If you want to read this, it'd be a good idea to read that one first if you haven't all ready.**

**This story is going to deal with a lot of mature themes. I'd tell you right now, but then that would just ruin it. All I can say is that if you are immature (you know who you are), then don't read this. **

"This is it," Raven said as she looked up at the enormous school building with Eddie and Chelsea on both sides of her. They were now 12th graders, and felt it necessary to stop for a moment and take it all in.

"It's kind of sad, isn't it?" Chelsea asked.

"A _little_ bit, I guess. I mean, one year from now, we won't _be_ here. But we'll still be _friends_, right?"

"_Best_ friends," Raven assured him.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Lets go in," said Chelsea. The three of them walked straight ahead to the rusty double doors that they had gotten so used to. Chelsea took a deep breath of Bayside High air. "I can't believe I was about to leave this place!"

"Well I'm so glad you stayed," Raven said to her girlfriend before kissing her on the cheeks. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"And _I'm_ gonna be sick from all this love," Eddie said.

"Aw, you're just mad because _Piper_ moved to LA with her dad. What _you_ need is a new girlfriend," Chelsea said.

"I don't _want_ a new girlfriend. I just want Piper back." Eddie began to mope.

"Well, maybe that can be arranged," a girl said.

"Piper?" He turned around.

"Eddie!" She wrapped her arms around him.

"Why aren't you in LA? What happened?"

"Well, I was having a great time living with my dad, but I missed you. So, I'm back to live with my mom. I couldn't take only emailing you. I had to see your face." Eddie looked happily at Piper and couldn't help but notice there was something different about her. He examined her. Her hair was still chestnut brown and so were her eyes. She was still just a bit shorter that him, so he knew that height wasn't what was different.

"You've changed, but I can't figure out how. Hug me again, would you?" He asked. Once again, Piper put her arms around the boy. He looked like he was trying hard to figure out what it was as he enjoyed her warm embrace.

"Eddie, there's something I have to tell you," she said.

"What is it?"

"Do you remember the night we met?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you remember what we _did_ the night we met?"

There was a blank look on his face and once seconds had gone by and Eddie didn't say anything, Piper knew she would have to spell it out."

"Ed, are you listening?"

"I'm…I'm...listening," He said, beginning to realize what she was talking about, but still too stunned to speak whole sentences.

"You…"

"Uh-huh…"

"Got me…"

"Yes?"

"Pregnant!"

"Come again?"

**A/N: I know this chapter focused more on Eddie than on Raven and Chelsea, but bear with me. This is all going to come together in the end. Please review.**


	2. I Didn't Know

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

**Warning: In case you missed it in the first chapter, this is a slash!**

Raven and Chelsea walked down the road, hand in hand and about to turn the corner onto Chelsea's street. It was dark outside, and they were starting to feel the cool autumn air a little bit more than they did hours before.

"I had a really great time tonight, Chels," Raven said, feeling her girlfriend's hands clamming up. Chelsea looked alert. She couldn't have cared less if anyone saw her with Raven the way she was, unless it was her parents. She knew that if they ever found out, they would go insane. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I…I just think that we should stop holding hands now."

Raven tried her best to be understanding, but the slightest annoyed looked could bee seen on her face. "You _still_ haven't told them? You said you would."

"I know, but Rae, it's different for me. Your parents are so understanding. My parents aren't"

"It must be tough," Rae said, patting her on the back as they turned the corner.

"It is!" They let go of each others hands. Raven walked Chelsea to her front porch and contemplated kissing her, like any other couple would do when they part ways. Chelsea was afraid of being caught, but felt herself being drawn to the girl.

'_I have to stop myself,' _she said in her head as it moved closer to Ravens.

"Chelsea? What are you doing?" Her father asked as he opened the front door. His questioning eyes looked at his daughter.

"I…I was…"

"Late!" He finished for her. "I know you're growing up and everything, but when I say, 'be home by midnight', I mean it!" Chelsea sighed, inwardly, happy that he didn't know what was _really_ going on. "Come on inside. Your mother made hot chocolate while she was waiting for you. It's the extra thick stuff with the huge puffy marshmallows you like so much," Mr. Daniels said as he put his arm around her and slowly lead her inside. "Goodnight, Raven," He said.

"Good night, Sir."

"See ya, Rae," Chelsea whispered. Raven waved to her, sad that she didn't get her goodnight kiss.

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After seven hours of sleep Raven woke up. Not to the sound of an alarm clock, but to a vision…

_Mrs. Baxter was talking to Chelsea's mother in the grocery store. Shocked, she dropped her shopping cart on the floor, freeing up both of her hands to cover up her mouth. _

"_That_ cannot be too good," Raven said as she hopped out of bed. She rushed down to the kitchen to see if she could find her mother. All she found was Cory rummaging through the refrigerator, trying to find whatever he could to eat.

"Cory, where's Mom?" she asked, nervously.

"She went to the grocery store. There's nothing to eat in the fridge," he told her.

"How long ago did she leave?"

"About an hour. She should be home any minute now."

Raven was worried. What could it have been that would shock her mother like that? She paced the kitchen for a while, holding her hand on her head. Moments later, the door opened and her mother was home.

"I didn't know," she mumbled to her self.

"Mom, what? What is it?" Raven asked.

Tanya looked at her sympathetically. "I didn't know!"

Her daughter was scared now, and she placed her hand on her shoulders to try and snap her out of the trance she seemed to be in. "What didn't you know, Mom? What didn't you know?"

"I didn't know that she didn't know!" Tanya yelled.

Raven looked at her, extremely confused. She was about to ask what it was one more time, but the doorbell rang.

When she opened it, Raven was surprised to see Chelsea standing there in tears with a duffle bad.

"Chels, what happened?" Her voice was full of concern.

"They know, Rea. They know," she managed to say finally. "I'm out. I'm out of the house. Out of my family. I…I need a place to stay."

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far.**


	3. Too Much

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to Disney**

Chelsea was allowed to stay. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter didn't mind if the girls slept in the same room, just as long as they weren't in bed together. They were lenient, but not _that_ lenient.

Raven had enough of rolling around in her cot. It was _much_ too hard to sleep in, so she decided to go down to the living room, and spend the duration of the night on the couch. This had been going of for a whole week. With Chelsea sleeping on her bed, Raven would abandon the cot for something more comfortable. She never said anything about it to her, though. Raven had managed to keep a _lot_ of things in her head since her girlfriend moved in. That was what she was thinking about as she drifted back to sleep and into a dream world…

_Raven got home from school to see Chelsea sitting on the couch. _

"_Hi, Rea," she greeted her._

"_Hi."_

"_How was school?" Chelsea asked._

"_You should know. You were there," Raven replied. The tone of her voice clearly showed that she was annoyed. She walked past the girl on the couch and went into the kitchen._

"_Hi, Rea," Chelsea greeted her. She was making herself a sandwich at the counter. _

"_What? But…you were just…"_

"_Would you like a sandwich?"_

"_No thanks, I'm not that hungry," Raven said, still confused._

"_That's great, because I used the last of the bread…and the cheese…and the ham…pretty much everything."_

"_That's it. I'm going to bed!" Rae declared. She went upstairs to her room to lie down. There, she found Chelsea, lying on her bed. Another Chelsea was asleep on her cot. Before she could freak out, Raven slowly backed away and closed the door. She thought that she could be alone if she went to the bathroom. When she opened the door, though, she found Chelsea in there, brushing her teeth._

"_Hey Rea. I hope you don't mind me using your toothbrush. I might as well. It's not as if you've had much to yourself since I moved in" Raven wanted to object, but she was interrupted. "I'm going to love living here. I'm going to stay her forever and ever and ever and ever and ever…"_

Raven screamed at the top of her lungs, pulling her out of her dream. When she opened up her eyes, she wasn't surprised to see Chelsea there.

"Rea, relax. It was just a bad dream," She told her.

Rea looked around. "A dream. It was all a dream." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on. We have to get to school. It starts in 15 minutes! We're getting a huge assignment in English class, remember? You're my partner, right, Rae?" It was obvious that Chelsea really wanted to work with her, but after a dream like the one Raven had just had, there was no way _that_ was happening. The dream made her realize that she was spending too much time with the girl. Hanging out at school was _one_ thing. She could handle _that_, but living together and then on top of that, going out on _dates_? That was too much for her. All week long, Raven had kept her mouth shut about the things that were bothering her about the relationship, but she was finally cracking.

"No!"

"What? But I thought that we were…"

"Well, you thought wrong. I see you everyday and every night and I don't know how much more of you I can stand to see!"

The tears made Chelsea's eyes glisten. She grabbed her sweater and ran out the front door.

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Mr. Petruccelli sat at his desk, talking to the class about their assignment. Extremely late, Raven ran into class, out of breath.

"Miss Baxter, do you know what time it is?"

"I know, Sir. It won't happen again. I promise," Raven said.

"You have a history of saying that. Let's hope you mean it this time."

Raven went to go take a seat. Her usual seat next to Chelsea had been taken, but she was kind of glad for it. Eddie was sitting next to Piper. The only available seat was next to Ben Sturky, no surprise. He smiled as she sat down.

"Hey, Rea," he whispered.

"Hey." Raven was quick to hold her breath next to him. If only someone could introduce personal hygiene into his life, sitting there wouldn't be so bad.

"Now, I'm going to hand all of you a piece of paper. On it, will be a topic that you are to research with a partner of your choice. You are to design a model of your topic and write an essay bout it. Sound like fun," the teacher asked. The whole class groaned. "Excellent! Get to work!"

Eddie and Piper were partners. That was a given. Raven looked around the classroom to see who she could partner up with. For a second, she thought about asking Chelsea, but then remembered the way she talked to her earlier on. She also saw Chelsea talking to someone. It was the boy that had taken her seat.

"Hey, do you want to be my partner," he asked.

"Sure, that'd be great," Chels replied.

"Cool. I'm Justin Chick."

"Chelsea Daniels. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Raven couldn't help but look at the sight in disgust. She felt the jealousy running through her body. She wanted to go up there and slap the boy, for even _looking_ at Chels. It wasn't as if she had broken _up_ with her.

"Does everybody have a partner?" asked the teacher.

"_I_ don't," said Ben.

"Gee, I wonder why," asked Alana.

"Ok, there must be someone who doesn't have a partner yet."

Raven ducked down in her desk, trying her best not to be seen. The only one who noticed this was Alana.

"Sir, I don't think that _Raven_ has a partner yet. Maybe you should pair her up with Ben." Happy, Alana looked over at Raven who was now shaking her fists at her.

"Perfect! Raven, you and Bill…"

"For the love of God, it's BEN!"

"You and _Ben_ will work together. Have fun!"

**A/N: And the trouble is about to begin! Keep on reviewing.**


	4. Piper's Family

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to Disney.**

Chelsea walked into Raven's room, knowing exactly what had to be done. She had been thinking about what she said to her earlier, and it was still bothering her.

"Chels, what are you doing?" Raven asked when she saw the girl pick up her duffel bag.

"I'm leaving," she replied.

"What? Why? Is it because of what I said today?" Raven, too, had time think about what she said and was sorry about it. There was no way she was letting her go. "Chelsea, I'm sorry." She stood up from her cot to walk over to her. "Look, I'm just not used to sharing a room. In that _one_ moment of frustration, I lashed out at you and I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just can't tell you how much I'm sorry." Raven could see Chelsea start to crack a bit of a smile. She gently took the duffel bag out of her hand and put in on the floor. "Just stay with me."

"Ok, but we need to be honest with each other from now on, Rea. If there's something on your mind, you have to tell me, and I'll do the same."

"Seal the deal with a kiss?" Raven asked.

"I don't see why not."

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"Come on, Piper. I don't see what the problem is," Edie said as he followed her down the street. She began to walk faster with her head down.

"I just don't think that we should meet at my house, Ok? We should go to _you're_ house," she said.

"We can't! My mom's having it renovated. It'd be way too complicated to get any work done in there. Why is it that you never want me to come to your house? Even before you moved away, you'd always make up some excuse for me not to come over. I don't understand it."

"Because you _can't_ understand it, Eddie! It's embarrassing."

"That's it? You have and embarrassing family? Join the club, there's only several _billion_ of us out there," Eddie said sarcastically. He stopped her form walking away any further by grabbing her arm. "Look, I don't care what you're family is like, Piper. How bad can they be if they raised such an amazing girl?" He gently kissed her on the lips before letting go of her arm to let her walk.

"Ok fine, you win, Eddie."

"I knew I would," he said, confidently.

The walked for a few more blocks before stopping at a faded lime green house. It looked like it could use a few repairs before someone could even call it "ugly". What used to be a white picket fence was now a few pegs of rotting wood here and there. Old toys were left out on the lawn. They looked as if they hadn't been used in years, and if they _did_, then that was a very unlucky child.

A little boy came running out of the house. "Piper," he yelled as he jumped on her, giving her a hug.

"Brian, what are you doing out on this lawn with no shoes on?" She looked at him with concern.

"I'm hungry, sis. I didn't eat nothing all day."

"Hop on my back. I'll make you something. If you couldn't tell, Eddie, this is Brian, my little brother." They walked toward the house.

"Hey, little man. How ya doin'?" Eddie asked.

"I'm not little. I'm 4 ½ !"

"Aw he's cute."

"I know, I just wish he'd get better care," Piper said as she put him down on the kitchen counter. She opened up the fridge. "Just great, there's nothing to eat," she said with a sigh.

"Do you guys like pizza?" asked Eddie? I've got…" he pulled out his wallet to see what he could find. "20 bucks."

"Eddie, you're a life-saver. I swear, when I get the money, I'm going to pay you back!"

"Did…did I hear money?" A woman came stumbling into the kitchen. She was a bit taller than Piper and had her eyes. The woman was very grubby looking. "Now, I think I heard money, Baby. Whatever it is, I want a cut!" Her speech was slow and slurred.

"Mom, you've been drinking," Piper said softly. She was starting to blush, and Eddie was beginning to realize why she didn't want him to come over.

"Don't tell me what I do in my spare time." There was now resentment in her voice.

"Mom, this is Eddie, my boyfriend." She was clearly nervous when she introduced him.

"Hello," Eddie extended his hand for her, but her vision was too far off to determine which of the five hands she saw was real.

"So, is this the boy who knocked you up?"

"Mother!"

"What? I'm just trying to find out what goes on in my daughters life. Birth control is a very important thing, Eddie. You don't want to make the same three mistakes _I_ did."

"Shut up, Mom."

"Don't you…don't you take that tone with _me_, young lady. I am your mother and you will…(belch)…you will respect me!"

"Um, maybe I should go," Eddie said.

"I told you this was a bad idea."

"I'm sorry, Piper."

"Don't be a stranger, Eddie," Piper's mother yelled. "Although, that little factor didn't stop my Piper from sleeping with you!"

Eddie felt terrible for convincing his girlfriend to let him come over, but what made him feel even worse, was _leaving_ her there.

**A/N: Ok, I know that's a crappy way to end it, but I'm out of ideas for this chapter. I hope you all liked it. Sorry for not updating this sooner. I'd like to say that I was busy, but I wasn't. **


	5. Whatever

The windows were open and the fans were on full blast as Raven and Ben worked on their project in her living room.

"It's kind of cold in here, Raven. Do we _really_ need the all of these fans on in here?" Ben asked, rubbing his arms for warmth.

"Yeah, you know, I have a real problem with air when it's not circulating. I'm sorry, but it's gotta stay like this."

"That's ok. My mom does that a lot too."

"I bet she does," Raven said.

"I'm really glad that we're partners for this, Rae. I don't think Mr. Petruccelli could have given me anyone better."

Raven tried her best to ignore that the odd smelling boy was probably hitting on her. "Thanks, Ben." She put on her polite face for him. "I wonder where Chelsea is," she said after nervously looking at the clock. It was already seven and her girlfriend wasn't home yet. She had gone over to Justin's house right after school to work on their project.

"I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"I hope so." Raven was clearly worried about the girl.

Ben thought about it, but was afraid of the answer he would receive from her. After spending so much time with her, though, he finally worked up the nerve to ask.

"You really love her, don't you?"

Thinking that it was too obvious, Raven gave him a weird look. "Come on, you know I do."

"Yeah, Chelsea's great…but no girl can compare to you." Ben smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Aw, you're sweet, Ben."

"Rae…" The smile on his face had slowly faded away, and all that was left on the couch beside her was a boy who looked terrified. Terrified because he knew that he couldn't control what he was going to do next. He puckered up and dove in for a kiss.

"Ben, what are you doing?" Raven was able to hold him back before his lips could even touch hers.

"I'm sorry, Raven. I'm so, so sorry." He was clearly embarrassed by his actions and wished he could take it back.

"Ok, I think you read a little _too_ much into my words. Ben, Listen to me." She held his cheeks so that he would look into her eyes.

"I'm listening," he said, slowly and sadly, resisting the temptation to cry.

"Ben, you're a sweet boy, but that's it. I don't like you that way. I'm with Chelsea. I love her and don't plan on leaving her for _anyone_."

"I know. I'm an idiot."

"No you're not." Raven couldn't help feeling bad for him. "Look, lets just work on the project, ok?"

"Raven?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever think…you know, maybe things between us could have worked out differently between us?"

"Not really. No."

"Oh." Ben looked really crushed and again, Raven felt bad.

"Look, Ben, if you just took a shower few times a week, I'm sure that you would have a tone of girls at you door."

"But what if all I want is _you_?"

"Trust me; there are _plenty_ of girls out there for you. As for _me_, there's only one, and I _have_ her."

"Aw, Raven you're just the sweetest thing," Chelsea said as she closed the front door.

"Chels!" Raven bounced to her feet to greet her girl with a kiss.

"I guess I should probably get going now," Ben said as he gathered up his books. "I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Bye."

"Bye, Ben," Chelsea said. The door slammed shut. "What's with him?"

"Nothing. He's just not feeling well, I guess." Raven didn't feel it was necessary to go into detail.

"Oh. So how'd' everything go on your project?"

"It was fine."

"Really? Just fine?" Chelsea asked.

"Yeah. Why? How did things go with you're project with _Justin_?" Raven was a bit suspicious.

"It was fine. We worked for a bit, and then got bored so we just sat and talked for a while. He's so cool."

"I bet he is." Raven said sarcastically. "Why don't we go get some dinner now? I'm starved." She put her hands over her stomach.

"I've…already eaten?"

"Chelsea, you told me this morning that you were going to be home in time for dinner. I waited for you. Everyone _else_ ate an hour ago."

"I'm sorry, but Justin took the time to cook this great dinner. How could I say no?"

"How about by making an "N" sound, closely followed by an "O" sound?"

"Rea, Come on. Here, I'll eat anyways…"

(Ring….ring)

"I'll get that," said Chelsea. She made her way over to the phone. When she picked it up, a familiar voice was heard on the other end. "J…Justin, hey."

After rolling her eyes, Raven couldn't help noticing the way her girlfriend was talking. The constant stuttering, giggling and blushing. She recognized all of these. They were the sings of a girl with a crush.

"Raven, you don't mind if I talk to Justin for a bit, do you? I'll come and eat just now, ok?" Chelsea put the phone on her shoulder to talk to her.

"Whatever," Raven said with a shaky voice as she walked away. "Whatever."

**A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update. I will try to post sooner next time. Once again, I couldn't find a good time to write anything.**


	6. Over

The separation that morning was welcomed by Raven. She didn't mind sleeping on the cot, though often wanted to join Chelsea on the bed. Raven was far too angry to talk to her when she woke up and saw the auburn beauty cuddling her blanket. Chelsea had stayed out until almost midnight with Justin. She told her that they were just hanging out as friends, but Raven found it a bit hard to believe, especially when she saw the way Justin's eyes would light up when she walked into the room.

'_That's how I look at you,' _Rae thought in her head. _'What's happening to us?'_

Chelsea was starting to wake up. Raven still wasn't in the mood to talk to her, so she gathered up the things she needed to take a shower and get ready for school. She knew that she was distancing herself as well, but she let her feelings of anger and hatred toward Justin get in the way. It was taking over. She knew it and was beginning to get scared. Her relationship was in trouble.

As Raven was leaving, she got one look at Chelsea, who had been looking at her the whole time, waiting for her to say something. She was silently begging for her to talk to her. Though Raven knew that it would have probably done some good to talk to her, she slowly started to leave the room, making the distance between the two of them larger, until she was stopped right in her tracks.

'_You're slipping away from me, Raven,' _Chelsea thought. Chelsea may have _thought_ it, but Raven definitely _heard_ it.She quickly ducked into the washroom.

"I have a psychic cold," Raven whispered to herself. "I just read Chelsea's mind. More importantly, though, she's right! I'm slipping away. I can't keep getting mad at her. I can't loose her…"

* * *

Raven left school two periods early that day with out saying a word to anyone. She had an idea that was sure to let her girlfriend know that she still loved her, but it would take some time, and help from other friends _after_ school.

"I guess I'm just going to walk home," Chelsea said to Justin as she stood up from the sidewalk. School had ended a half hour ago, and she finally realized that she wouldn't be meeting up with Raven.

"Why don't you come over to my house for a bit?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Raven's already mad at me for spending too much time with you. I really think that I should just go home and work things out."

"Chels, she clearly just wants to be alone right now. Besides, it'll only be for a little while." Justin's deep blue eyes looked right into _her_ eyes as he smiled.

"1 hour and no more," said Chelsea.

(3 hours later)

"And you just lean over…" Justin was guiding Chelsea's body. He insisted on teaching her how to play pool. "Aim carefully…and…SHOOT!"

Chelsea put too much power into it and balls were flying everywhere. She laughed at her clumsiness. "I guess I just need a bit more work."

"Well…"Justin started. He turned her towards him and put his arms around her waist. "I guess we're going to have to keep trying."

The faces were only inches apart. "Um…Justin, I really think I should be going now." Chelsea had a nervous smile on her face.

"I really like you, Chels. Stay with me." His lips slowly brushed against hers. Justin tried to see if he could touch her tongue with his, but Chelsea wasn't opening up. She was afraid. "Please," He pleaded, pulling her body closer to _his_ so that there was no space in between. This was a closeness that Chelsea hadn't experienced in a while. Since Raven was becoming so distant, she had almost forgotten what it was like to be held that way…to be loved. In a moment of pure weakness, Chelsea gave in and kissed back.

* * *

Cory, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter were at the Chill Grill. Raven knew exactly what she was going to do with the time she had the house.

"Put those on the banister," Raven said to Eddie. He, Piper and Rachel were helping to decorate before Chelsea could get back. Eddie started to place little candles on the banister of the gazebo in the backyard. "Meh, never mind. Don't put 'em there."

'_For the love of God, Woman. Make up your mind' _Eddie thought.

"I read that," said Raven.

"Damn it! How Long is this thing going to last? I don't want you to know what I'm thinking _all_ the time."

"I don't know, but I definitely don't want it to stay for a long time. Thoughts get pretty loud."

"I'd like to say that I know what you mean but…"

"Rachel, no," Raven interrupted.

"What did I do now," She asked, holding onto a bowl full of wild flower pedals.

"I want them to line the walkway to the gazebo, not all over the _grass_." Raven was getting frustrated.

"Hey, I was just doing what you told me to do. I thought that they would look better lining the walkway, but _you_ told me not to. You need to make up your mind, Rae."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I…I just have to get everything perfect for tonight. Things aren't going so well between me and Chelsea right now, and I don't want to loose her. Everything has to be perfect!"

"I know, Rae. I'm really sorry about this Justin dick. Do you want me to kick his ass for you?"

Raven finally cracked a smile. Rachel was a little rough, but her intentions were good, and having a friend like her around was just what she needed.

"Thanks, Rach, but I don't think so. I'm gonna go to the kitchen and see how piper is doing with the food.

"Ok."

Just as Raven went back into the house, Eddie's cell phone rang.

"Hello," he started.

"Eddie…" The voice on the other end sounded almost lifeless.

"Chels? What's wrong? What happened to you? You sound terrible."

"That's because I _did_ something terrible." An hour had passed since the kiss, and the thrill was over. Chelsea realized what she did was wrong, and depression was taking over. She broke down crying over the phone.

"Chelsea, what happened?" Eddie was worried.

"Justin…he kissed me a…and I kissed back and I was enjoying it and…now I'm screwed. I just killed my relationship with Rae."

"That's sucks, Chels, but you have to come home anyways."

"Why should I? Raven hates me."

"Trust me, she doesn't hate you." Eddie took a look around. The Backyard was decorated so beautifully. "There is no way that girl hates you."

"So I should go see her?"

"Yes, you really should."

"Eddie…you're not going to tell her about this, are you?'

"No. I promise I won't tell."

"Thanks. You're a good friend. Bye."

"Bye."

"Well, the backyard looks pretty ready to me. Let's go hide in the basement," Rachel said after lighting the last candle.

"Alright."

Moments later, Raven and Piper came out to the backyard carrying the food that they had both cooked.

"I should go down to the basement with everyone else."

"Ok. I really appreciate the work you've done. I don't think I could have cooked this by myself. Every time I try to cook rice, it turns out all gooey and gross. As for _shrimp_, I've never touched the stuff."

"Thanks. My mom used to show me how to cook…but then again, she used to do a lot of things. I'm going to go downstairs now, but I really hope that everything goes well for you and Chelsea."

"Thank you."

Raven waited in her backyard for a few minutes. The front door was looked and she knew that Chelsea had forgotten to take her keys with her. Seeing all the lit candles in the backyard, Raven figured that Chelsea would follow the light, and she was right.

"Raven?"

"Chelsea. I'm glad you're here." Raven slowly walked over to Chelsea and took her by the hand.

"What _is_ all of this," she asked, confused.

"It's all for you. You know, we haven't had a decent dinner in a while."

Raven walked Chelsea up to the Gazebo. She pulled out a chair for her to sit down on, before taking a seat herself.

"Raven, I don't deserve this," Chelsea said, still feeling terrible about what she had done.

"Oh, come on, Chels. Don't be so hard on yourself. _I_ need to apologize to you."

"You? For what?"

"Well, I got so mad at you for spending time with Justin. He's just a friend. A friend and no more. I know you would never cheat on me, and I was wrong for overreacting."

'_I can't believe this. I don't deserver you, Rae,'_ Chelsea thought.

"What? Why would you think that?"

"Huh? I said that out loud?" Chelsea asked.

"No, you said it in your head. I woke up this morning with a…"

"…a psychic cold," Chelsea finished her sentence for her with quivering lips. She was going to be busted.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked.

Human nature was what was wrong. If someone could read your mind, what would you think about? Most likely, all of the things that you would least want that person to know.

'_I'm afraid of the dark.' _Chelsea wanted to stop herself from thinking about what happened with her and Justin.

"O…k…" Raven was a bit confused as to why she would bring that up in her head so suddenly.

'_I once checked out Cory…oh shit, I shouldn't have thought about that. Crap, she's looking at me. What do I do? I've already done enough…'_

"Ok, first of all, EWW! Second, are you worried because I can read you mind?"

"No," Chelsea lied.

'_I can't keep thinking these thoughts. I can't…'_

Raven stood up and walked over to her girlfriend. She gently put her hands on her cheeks and pulled her into a kiss.

"I love you so much, Chelsea. Stop worrying about what to think. You can relax…"

'_She kissed me. Did I like it better than Justin's kiss?'_

Raven put her hands over her mouth as she gasped.

"You didn't! Chelsea, tell me that you didn't," Raven yelled.

"I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry? You break my fucking heart and all you can say is that you're sorry? What did I do to you that was so wrong? I know we haven't been close lately, but did I deserve to be cheated on?

"Raven, it wasn't like that. It wasn't!"

All of the noise they were making caused Eddie, Piper and Rachel too come back outside.

"What's going on out here?" Eddie asked.

"I just found out that Chelsea kissed Justin."

"No way! Chelsea, you told her? Why?"

"Eddie, you knew?" Raven asked angrily.

"No, I didn't exactly tell her. She has a psychic cold," Chelsea explained through the tears.

"I know she does."

"Wait, you knew and you didn't tell me? Thanks a lot, _friend_." Chelsea said sarcastically.

"I forgot. I'm sorry."

"Oh, so the two of you were in this together?" Raven asked.

"Wait," Piper rubbed her head in confusion, "you had a huge secret, and you didn't tell me, Eddie? Why not? We're supposed to tell each other everything. And what the hell is a psychic cold?"

"Maybe he didn't have to tell you anything, since it's none of you're business," Chelsea yelled. She normally wouldn't say a thing like that to anyone, but she was frustrated.

"Piper, I couldn't tell you. I promised I wouldn't. Don't get mad at me for that."

"Don't tell me not to get mad, Eddie. I have every right to be mad. You choose these…" Piper was trying to find the right word. In the absence of good judgment, she crossed the line. "…dykes over me?" Raven and Chelsea's jaws dropped at the comment.

"Whoa, watch your mouth, little girl," Rachel said. "Is that what you call us behind our backs?"

"I wasn't even talking to you, so just go!" Piper yelled.

"I don't think so. Answer my question."

"I don't have to answer to you. You don't even belong here. Take a look around at all the couples, 5th wheel."

"Fine, if I'm a 5th wheel, then I'll just take my _4_ wheels and drive home. Have fun…walking!"

"You're wrong, Piper. I don't see to many couples here," Raven started. She turned towards Chelsea. "It's over!"

**A/N: I know that the fight was a little farfetched, but keep reading. Lots of drama is on the way. The story isn't near finished.**


	7. Filled Boxes and Empty Rooms

**A/N: Ok, I've confuzzled some of my readers in the last chapter, so let me just clear things up.**

**-No, Rachel and Piper do not know that Raven is a psychic. Though Piper _did_ ask what a psychic cold was, Chelsea told her off and the subject quickly drifted back to Eddie not telling her about the kiss. **

**-Raven _did_ have enough evidence to end the relationship. She read Chelsea's mind when she was thinking about Justin's kiss. She knew from before that her relationship was rocky, but she chose not to end it because she had no proof. Like Raven said, _"Well, I got so mad at you for spending time with Justin. He's just a friend. A friend and no more. I know you would never cheat on me, and I was wrong for overreacting."_**

**-I know I said that Chelsea was cutting herself in the last chapter of "Memorize Her Smile" and never mentioned it again, but keep in mind that she was severely depressed when she did that. Since then, up until chapter six of _this_ story, Chelsea hasn't been too depressed about anything (I'll get into her parents kicking her out later). Everything just needs time. A lot of things that I mentioned in the first story but never touched on again just will come just at the right moment. Everything will fall into place at the end. There are something's in here that I bet nobody will see coming that might just rock harder than Scrabble…MIGHT!**

All she wanted was for her to speak to her again, but she knew that it wasn't going to happen any time soon. It had been a whole week. Raven was still mad at Chelsea and they both knew that she had every reason to be. There were many times, that week, where Chelsea would think in her head about how sorry she was, knowing that Raven could still read her mind, but the girl's anger showed no sign of depreciation. The bedroom was filled with boxes. New arrangements were made, and Chelsea was going to move in with her aunt who lived a few miles away. Though she thought about it a lot, she decided that it wouldn't be such a good idea to go back to her parents, the people who were so quick to forsake her.

At the front door, final hugs and kisses were given to Chelsea by all but one Baxter. Raven stood at the top of the staircase, watching her family bid her ex farewell. She couldn't wait for her to leave after what she had done to her. Chelsea gave one last look at Raven, hoping that she would feel some sympathy and take her back. She slowly closed her eyes after feel the brutal blow of rejection.

'Goodbye, Raven," she thought

Raven unhurriedly walked up the stairs to her room that seemed far too empty. Her back leaned against the door to close it. "Goodbye, Chels," she whispered.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

School was quieter than usual. With the gang separated, things just didn't seem right. Eddie and piper weren't talking to each other, or any one _else_, for that matter. Raven had a pencil lightly tapping against her desk in order to hold her attention while she waited for her partner to arrive. He was running extremely late and she was starting to think that she would have to start working all by herself.

Suddenly, the door opened. Everyone looked up from what they were doing. Gasps and whispers were heard all throughout the room. Some people got ready to cover up their noses, but soon ended up covering theirs mouths in disbelief as they laid their eyes of a very different Ben Sturky…

**A/N: I'm sorry to leave it off here, but I'm a tad busy today (It's my birthday and I'm throwing a party, YAY ME). I know I haven't updated in a while, but I just finished my last exam for the year, so I should be getting back into writing. Don't forget to review. This stuff isn't free, ya know?**


	8. A New Ben

**A/N: I don't know if anyone noticed, but I took off the tile. I named it "Between angels and insects" because at the time, it was really fitting to my story. What can I say? Things change. When I find a suitable title, I'll change it to that.**

Ben took a seat next to Raven. She was shocked to see that he actually looked decent…_hot_, even. He had taken a shower, shampooed his hair. The works. He even changed his clothes for a change. He wore a white, almost formal shirt with a clean pair of comfortable fitting jeans that didn't have a single whole in them.

"Ben…you look…" Raven started.

"Nice?" He finished for her.

"Nice isn't a strong enough word," she said, still not believing her eyes. "What's with the change?"

"I decided to take your advice. I…I don't want to be alone anymore, Raven," Ben said in the most serious of tones.

"Well, look at you. You look amazing. I don't think you'll have a problem getting girls now," Raven said, trying to comfort him, though she was being totally honest.

"Would I have trouble getting _you_?"

"Ben, we've Ben through this…"

"We went through this while you were still with _Chelsea. _I don't mean to bring it up, but you broke up with her. I know this is a little sudden, but Rae, I would do _anything_ to be your boyfriend. Just give me a chance."

Raven saw an extreme wanting in his eyes.His words, much like Ben, _himself_, were genuine. She wasn't certain she should, at first, but once she glanced over at Justin, huddled over her ex, she had a change of heart.

"You know what, Ben? Why not?"

"Are you serious?" He asked, in an overexcited voice.

"Yeah. I'm totally serious. I want to go out with you."

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know it was short. I had to sit down and force myself to write this chapter. I think this one part really had me stuck, but now that I've gotten past that, I might be ok. **

**-This chapter is also extremely important, though it's the shortest. It sets up the stage for some huge stuff coming up. Just thought I'd let you know. **

**-Please review if I still have any readers. I'm sorry to keep you waiting. **


	9. Cries For Help

**A/N: I forgot to point out that because this story is supposed to take place during the entire final year of high school, time might move a bit quicker than you think. I don't want to drag the story on for 50 chapters. **

"I made dinner. Are you hungry?" Chelsea's aunt, Jenny, asked. She walked over to the bed that her niece lied on and gently placed a hand on her back.

"No," Chelsea said, weakly. She rolled over on to her side, giving her a nice view of the world outside. "I'm not hungry."

Jenny grabbed her long red hair in stress as she tilted her head down. It hurt to see her the way she was. "It's really nice outside, you know. Maybe later we can go for a walk?" She attempted to cheer her up.

Chelsea rolled her eyes with a moan. "I'm too tired. I'm not hungry. If you want to do me a favor, just leave me alone!"

Jenny knew that her niece was going through some tough times, so she resisted the urge to give her a speech about manners. She just left the room and gave the girl the privacy she wanted.

Chelsea was a mess, thinking about Raven. "How could things get this bad?" she asked herself. "I just want her back…even if I can't have her the _way_ I want her…as my girlfriend." She quickly picked up the cordless phone by her bed, but as she held the receiver in her cold, weakened hands, hesitation seemed to swallow her alive.

"I shouldn't do this…should I…? No. Why would she want to talk to me? But if I _don't_ call, then I'll never know. But what if …"

Chelsea jumped up in shock as the phone began to ring in her hands. "Raven?" She asked in excitement.

"No, it's Justin," a voice said.

"Oh…"

"Whoa, try to keep you disappointment a _little_ secret," he said.

"No, no, it's just that, I was about to call her and I thought that maybe…you know, she called me first. Maybe she wanted to talk to me," Chelsea explained.

"Well, sorry, but it's just me. I wanted to ask you something."

"Something like what?" Chelsea asked with a bit of curiosity.

"Um, see, there's this place downtown, they make the _best_ veggie burgers, and I thought maybe I could take you there…tonight?" There was a hint of anxiety in his voice. The fear of rejection was evident.

Noticing this, Chelsea, tried her best not to hurt his feelings. "Uh, Justin, tonight's not really good for me. I'm not feeling well…but thanks for asking."

" Chelsea…"

"I have to go now. I'll talk to you later," Chelsea said in a hurry to get off the phone.

"But Chels…"

She hung up before he could finish his sentence. _'I don't want to hurt him, but it's clear that I shouldn't see him. He's the reason me and Rae aren't together,' _Chelsea thought.

She started to dial Ravens number, hoping that she wasn't going to bite her head off at the sound of her voice.

"Hello?" A woman asked.

"Hi, Mrs. Baxter. Is Raven there?"

" Chelsea," Tanya said, delightfully. "How _are_ you? I haven't heard for you in so long."

"I'm ok, I guess. Can I speak to Raven? It's kind of important."

"Well, I'd love to let you talk to her, but she isn't here. She's on a date with Ben Sturky."

With _that_ note, a lump quickly formed in Chelsea's throat, making it hard to swallow…hard to breathe.

" Chelsea? Chels, are you there?" a worried Mrs. Baxter asked.

There was a few more seconds of silence before she finally answered. "Yeah…I'm here…but I have to go," she said, bursting into tears. The phone shattered into hundreds of pieces after being hurled to the wall. Chelsea let out a scream in anger...pain …just about every emotion she'd felt since the breakup.

" Chelsea!" Jenny came running the stairs as fast as she could once she heard the commotion.

Chelsea swiftly went to her dresser and began to push it in front of the door before her aunt had the chance to burst in. She leaned against it, making entrance to the room harder.

As Jenny banged her fists against the door, Chelsea reached into one of her drawers, pulling out a tin case that used to contain mints. Popping it open, she revealed an assortment of razor blades. She had grown wiser in the world of cutting since June, after the brutal unmasking of her sexual preference. Rather than going for her easily exposed wrists, Chelsea chose to lift up her shirt instead. One ice cold blade running across her stomach seemed to make it better.

"I _can_ control you," she yelled, addressing the pain.

Jenny began to pound harder on the door. The dresser wasn't that heavy, and could easily be moved out of the way, but once Chelsea began to grow weak again, entrance was almost _too_ easy. She rushed in and scooped up her niece in her arms and rocked her back and forth, trying to keep her conscious.

"Why did you come here?" Chelsea asked in a shaking voice.

"Because, I love you. You need help, Chelsea. You need help."


	10. We All Begin As Angels

**Disclaimer: There is a line in this chapter that was taken from a poem I read on fictionpress. I couldn't get a hold of the author to see if I could use it, but it's only one line. Just letting you all know it's called "we all begin as angels".**

She had never been there before but could see that it was beautiful. Raven and Ben sat on top of the highest hill, overlooking the entire city. The cars driving by far below them looked like a blurry sea of movingred and white stripes.

"It's gorgeous," Raven said, still trying to take in all the sights and sounds. "I can't believe this is my first time being here." It was really an amazing place to be. There was something in her eyes, though. _Sure_, she had fun. But the whole night, in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but feel that she wasn't having fun with the right _person_. Still, she put up a front in an effort not to spoil Ben's mood.

"Yeah," Ben said, quietly. His eyes seemed to be focused one the sky…at the darkening streaks of pink and orange. An unbreakable promise of nighttime. Their time together was getting shorter.

"I really enjoyed our date tonight, Ben. It was," she took a few seconds to think of a word to sum it up, "nice."

Ben smirked and rolled is eyes, but not playfully. He was the perfect gentlemen that night. He took her dancing. He took her out to a fancy restaurant. He did everything he thought that he was supposed to do. '_But you're not happy_,' he told her in his head.

"Ben, what's wrong?" Raven asked. She grew concerned once she saw the look on his face.

"Nothing's wrong," he lied. "I'm ok."

"Oh." Raven shifted uncomfortably on the ground. "So…" She desperately searched for something to talk about. "What mark do you think we'll get on our assignment? We got a pretty good topic compared to what some others had to work on. I mean, angels? That's not so hard to write about. We were lucky."

"I guess so." Ben nodded his head. "I imagine it's a lot harder to _be_ them than to write about them." He put his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them as he spoke.

"What do you mean?" Raven asked, interestedly.

"I just mean, anyone can go on the internet and write an essay on angels. But nobody, no matter how good they think they are, can live as one. It's not in our nature. We start off so pure…so naïve," Ben looked down at the city. It was so alive. It never stopped moving, not even for a second. "But we become polluted."

Raven looked at him, unsure of what to say.

"You know, we all begin as angels," he turned around and could see a familiar group of kids walking toward him in the distance and lowered his voice "but only devils die…" Ben stood to his feet.

"Well, look who it is. Stinky Sturky."

Three boys from school, Shane, Collin and Rick, stopped in front of him. Raven knew them as just bullies. Ben had a much closer connection to them.

"We should get going, Rae." He held out a hand for her to grab.

"And he's with a girl, too? I can't believe it," Rick said. He was a bit tall and muscular for his age. He shook his head to toss back the shaggy brown hair that covered most of his eyes. "So, what do you think you're doing here? This is _our_ spot. We don't want you stinking it up!"

"Come on, Ben. Let's just go," Raven said.

"Whoa, is name is Ben? I always thought it was _Bill_ or something like that? Not like it matters. It's not as if people really care to remember your name," Collin said with a smirk. "So, Raven, what are you even doing with this guy? I thought you were all over Chelsea."

"Actually, Chelsea and I are no longer dating," She informed him.

"Yeah, I heard she cheated on you," said Shane.

Raven was beginning to get fed up. "Look, this is none of you're business, ok?"

"No, no, I totally get it. _She_ cheated on _you_, so to make her jealous, _you_ go out with Bill. She realizes what a mistake she made, then comes running back into you're arms. Very clever."

Raven thought for a few seconds about how close he was. She really _did_ go on the date to make Chelsea jealous. _'But did I do it because I want her back? Do I miss her? Am I still in love with her?'_ she asked herself.

As the rest of the world continued to moved, Raven's stopped for a moment. Eyes wide, she had a vision:

_Chelsea stopped and stood right front of Raven. It was clear that words were on the tip of her tongue. She was ready to talk…_

She snapped back to reality with a grin on her face.

"Oh, so this is funny to you?" Ben asked. "You can't even answer my question." He could feel the heat begin to rise in his face.

"Huh?" Raven had missed part of the conversation because of the vision.

"So you really didn't want to go out with me tonight? You just wanted Chelsea back."

"I never said that," she yelled.

"Well, you never denied it either. I knew you were thinking about her a lot, but I didn't know that this whole date was a sham!"

The boys started to laugh at the situation they had instigated.

"Ben," Raven started. She didn't finish her sentence. He took off too fast. Raven pushed her way through the bullies, hoping to catch up wit Ben, but he was gone. Slowly, she began to walk home.

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know it was too short and it took me way too long to post. Review anyways. I loves me some reviews. I'm just a whore like that. Anyhoo, slowly but surely, this story WILL get done, so don't worry. I was going to update something else today, but I decided to go with a story that I know people are waiting for. By the way, if there _is_ a story you're waiting for me to update, feel free to tell me and I promise I'll get working on it. I like to know what you guys want. **


	11. Contentment In The Fall

Everyone sat in their seats, bored out of their minds as they listened the presentations of their peers. A very exhausted Chelsea stood at the front of the class with Justin, who didn't look too well either. Getting together after school to work was no longer an option, since Chelsea decided to make as little contact with him as possible. Both of their grades were on the line, but neither of them seemed to care anymore. They'd already lost it.

"Our topic was the dinosaur," Justin said, half-heartedly at best. "Long story short, they were big, lived for a while and then got themselves extinct." He looked over at Mr. Petruccelli. "So, can I have my F _now_ or later?"

The teacher sighed and began to record their mark as he shook his head. Students sitting close enough could vaguely hear his tsk tsk tsking, a blatant sign of disapproval.

"Here's a model of a dinosaur," Chelsea said very unenthusiastically. She stuck her hand out, revealing a small rubbery dinosaur. Mr. Petruccelli had to stand up and take it into his own hands in order to see it clearly.

"You didn't make this! This is one of those toys you put in water and they expand."

"Well I made it _expand_," Chelsea said.

"Chelsea, you're an artist. I expected more. I'm very disappointed in you. The _both_ of you," He turned his head to Justin as he said that. "Just take your seats. I'll talk to you after class."

"Ooh," said a few students in the class simultaneously.

"Oh, grow up," Petruccelli yelled. "Alright, next we have Raven and Bill." He took a seat again. A few students laughed. Ben didn't bother to correct him that time.

As she walked up to the front, she accidentally brushed up against Chelsea's shoulder. For a moment, they made eye contact, but Raven broke it and kept walking.

Unfortunately for her and Ben, the same thing that had happened with Justin and Chelsea happened to them. After the day with the bullies— the whole finding out why she was really going out with him, talking to Raven was understandably uncomfortable. They barely spoke a word to each other since.

"Um, our assignment w…was on butterflies…." He began nervously.

"Sturky, you stink!" one of the kids yelled out.

Ben paused for a moment. Raven looked at him and motioned for him to keep going. Red-faced, he continued. "Butterflies are…"

"Shower," Muffy, one of Alana's lackeys tried to hide within a cough.

"You may look different, but you'll always be Stinky Sturky," said Shane. "Take a shower!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Mr. Petruccelli said as he stood up again and slammed his hands on his desk.

"Take a shower! Take a shower!" Collin began to lead the class in a chant."

"Shut up!" Ben yelled.

"Take a shower! Take a shower. Take a shower…" more people started to join in. The only ones who didn't were Raven, Eddie, Chelsea, Piper, and Rachel. They all looked at each other, all thinking the same thing: '_This is bad_!'

"Shut up!" Ben yelled again.

The class was a complete circus. Mr. Petruccelli, as hard as he tried, couldn't get the kids under control.

"Stop it! Stop it right now! Leave Bill alone," he demanded.

At that point, Ben's eyes widened and he turned to the teacher. "For the love of god, it's Ben! Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben! Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

He picked up the nearest desk and smashed it against the chalkboard. The sound made Raven jump and back away. It also caused everyone to stop. "You were my favorite teacher. While all these people went around _badmouthing_ you after the bell, I actually respected you. I respected you and you couldn't even get my damn _name_ right? Well fuck you!" Ben used both hands to give him the finger.

"_You_, Sir, are out of line," said Mr. Petruccelli.

Ben rolled his eyes at the statement. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm out of line. I'm out of order. There's _always_ something wrong with me. I do my best and it _still_ isn't good enough for you people. Well, I'm sick of it! I'm sick of all of _you_!"

Ben made his way to the back of the class room. He picked up another empty desk, but this time, threw it out the window. All the kids in the class stood up in fear.

"What is he _doing_?" asked Eddie.

Slowly, Ben put one foot up on the ledge and then another.

Raven carefully approached him. "Ben, Listen to me. Get down from there. You can't do this to yourself. You can't do this to _us_!"

The tears began to fall. "_You_ guys? You guys _care_ about me?"

"We do," Raven said on behalf of her classmates. She turned around and looked at them. They all nodded in agreement.

"Ben…Bro, it was a joke. We didn't mean it," said Shane.

"Bro? Oh, so I'm suddenly related to you now? All I have to do is stand a few hundred feet away from death and we're bros? It's not that simple. Don't you guys get that it's not that friggin' _simple_?"

"Ben just calm down," Raven said.

He completely ignored her. "I really wish that you did. I really wish that you guys just gave me a chance from the _start_. Maybe this could have been avoided," he said, pushing himself away from the window…away from the school he hated and the people inside.

For a moment, he felt as if he were weightless —flying, almost, like the butterflies he tried to research. All the problems in his life got further and further away with every inch he fell. For once, he felt total contentment. Contentment, of course, until his head met with the pavement.

…and then there was nothing…


	12. Everyone's A Murderer In His Eyes

Every action has a reaction. That's what they had all learned that day the hard way. They went from regular teenagers, doing what they do best, teasing, to weeping faces on the six o'clock news. Cameras in their faces and their names in the headlines became a regular part of life after that day, if they could even call it life…

_Raven's Day_-

Dressed in black, Raven looked out of her bedroom and saw what seemed like a sea of reporters on her lawn. She lowered the blinds and shuddered on the inside, knowing she couldn't stay there, safe in her room forever.

'_Who among us can even say that they have forever_?' Raven asked herself.

"Come in," she said after hearing a knock at the door. Her mother and father stood there, also dressed in black and ready to go.

"I left the engine running. We've gotta go," Victor said.

Raven took a look at her blinds and imagined how badly the people on the other side would harass her today.

He mother went to her and pulled her into a hug. "You know, you don't have to go if you don't want to. I'm sure they'll understand."

"No, Mom," Raven started, "I have to. Th…This is just something I have to do."

_Chelsea's Day_-

Chelsea sat on her bed clutching a pillow to her chest. "He can't be gone. He just can't be," she said to her Aunt. "I saw him. He was standing there, alive one second, and then…then…" she buried her face into her pillow.

"I know it's hard for you to understand, Chelsea, but it's _life_. People are going to come in to it and people are going to leave," Jenny explained.

As she said this, a few people came to Chelsea's mind. Her mom. Her dad. Her, ex, the love of her life.

Jenny took a seat on the bed. "Look, are you sure you want to go to this? Dr. McLeod said that you should avoid these types of situations, if you want to get better," she reminded Chelsea.

"I'm sure. I can't miss this. I have to be there."

Almost the entire 12th grade showed up for the funeral. People from Bayside who never even got a chance to _meet_ Ben showed up.

Raven arrived there early with her family. She was a little creeped out to be in the midst of so many tombstones, but found if even creepier how the same people from her front lawn arrived there before her.

'_They'll never let anyone rest, will they?_' she asked herself.

Her and her family took their seats at the front, close to the Sturky family. The mother didn't look like she could control herself. The father wrapped his arms around her and tried to get her to calm down, but he didn't look as if he had it all together _himself_.

A middle-aged man dressed in black with a white priest's collar at the front began to speak.

'_This is my fault,_' Raven said to herself. _'If I hadn't used him to make Chelsea jealous—if I hadn't broken up with her in the first place…'_

'_Why did I tease him like I did?'_ Shane asked himself. _'I'm such an asshole. He shouldn't be dead right now…'_

'_I killed him,'_ thought Mr. Petruccelli. _'How hard was it to remember a one-syllable name?'_

"Now, would anyone like to say a few words?" asked the priest.

The crowd looked around at each other. For a moment, it looked like no one was going to come forward, but then Mr. Sturky stood up. As he made his way to the front, he bowed his head at his sons closed casket and whispered something inaudible.

He stood in front of hundreds of people, a broken-hearted man. Mr. Sturky wiped his eyes as he looked up to the sky, trying to figure out what to say.

"Ben was…" he started, but his voice cracked and for a second, the thought that he'd lost it. "Ben…" he ran his fingers through his graying hair. He took a deep breath and somewhat pulled himself together for a while. "I remember when Ben was a little kindergartener. I…I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said to me, 'I wanna be a bajillionaire, Daddy.' And I remember asking him why. 'Why do you want to be a bajillionaire?'" He was starting to breakdown again, but who could blame him? "And then he looked up at me with his bright eyes and said, 'Because I want to buy a big house and every day I could throw parties for all of my friends!' Well, Benjamin never had any parties. Not one. Who would come? The teens sitting here today?" Anger was staring to build. Everyone could hear it in his voice.

A few people began to shift uncomfortably in their seats. No one who knew Ben dared to do anything like cough or anything else that would direct attention over to them. Not at that moment. It was too scary.

"You guys weren't his friends. You're his murderers! You killed him, all of you!" Mr. Sturky yelled. As his eyes lowered to the casket, so did his voice. "That was my boy. My little boy. He may have been 'Stinky Sturky' to _you_ kids…" He began to get even more choked up, "but that's my son lying in that coffin. You killed my son!" And then finally, he burst into full bawling. "You killed my son!"

To the rescue, his brothers, Liam and Chuck, came. Chuck, a man much taller and stronger than him came and got Mr. Sturky and led him back to his seat next to his grieving wife.

Liam tried to get things back on track. "I'm glad all you kids could be here for this, because I'm sure that's what my nephew would have wanted. All he wanted was to be surrounded by friends and now he is," he began.

A few people in the crown smiled. Even though she still felt like garbage, Raven found this comforting to know. Her head began to wander around, she looked behind her was surprised to see those familiar brown eyes and long red hair only two rows behind her.

"I was talking to my son last night. He's only five years old and he asked my why he couldn't see his favorite cousin anymore. So I began to explain to him as best as I could what death was. I even told him that it was going to happen to _me_. He cried and said that he wished I could have a hundred million days and a hundred million hours and seconds left so we could be together. And I said to him something I hope he never forgets: Don't count the time. Make the time count. Who really knows how much time we have left on this earth? It doesn't matter. All that _really_ matters is that we make sure we do the best we can in that amount of time," Liam said.

Raven turned around again and looked at Chelsea who was looking at her.

"The last time I saw Ben, I never said anything thing like 'I love you,' or 'take care of yourself.' I never imagined it would be the last time I saw him. I guess I took him for granted, and I'm so sorry for that. But I can't dwell on it. There are people who are still living in my life that need love and attention, just like in yours. People, I urge you, if there's anyone in your family, a friend, a boyfriend or girlfriend—_anyone_, if you love them, but haven't told them that yet, then do it now! You never know when's the last time you're going to see them."

Raven and Chelsea continued to look at each other, but paid attention to Liam's words.

"Once again I'm glad to see you all here today. There are people I've never seen before. Bayside students and family. People I haven't seen for years. And although it's great we're all here," he paused to look at the casket and then everyone else, "it shouldn't take something like death to bring us all together."

Everyone stood around the empty grave with the casket suspended above it.

The priest began to say a few last words. "O God, who's beloved Son did take little children into his arms and bless them: Give us grace, we beseech thee, to entrust this child Benjamin, to thy never-failing care and love, and bring us all to thy heavenly kingdom…"

The crying was so loud from some people, especially the mother, that the priest was almost completely drowned out. As the casket began to lower, all hell broke loose in her heart and mind.

"He's not dead," she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Give me back my baby!" she attempted to jump in after him, but her husband and in-laws held her back.

"Karen, he's gone. You have to let him go."

"No" she almost managed to overpower the three men. It was almost like she had superhuman strength, but most people knew what it really was. The rage of a grieving mother.

They finally managed to hold her back tightly. She stopped struggling when she realized it was hopeless, but still quietly said, "Let me hold my son."

Just to ensure that the day stayed miserable, it began to rain after the funeral had ended. As people started to run for their cars, Raven stood still, true to her vision, Chelsea was approaching her.

"Raven, I think we need to talk," she said.

"Talk about what?" raven asked.

Chelsea opened her mouth to say something, but the words never came out. She was cut off.

"Chelsea, hey," said Justin.

She didn't look at him or respond.

"Look, I really need to talk to you. It's important."

"Actually," Chelsea said, "I'm kind of doing something right now."

"You know what, you two? You have all the time in the world," Raven said. She turned around and started walking towards her family's car, fed up. Just the sight of Justin made her want to hit someone.

'_They can have each other,'_ Raven thought. _'I hope they're happy together.'_

"So then why to I feel this bad?"

**A/N: I actually wrote this chapter the day after I posted chapter 11. I was waiting until I got enough reviews to go on and post this one, but it didn't look like it was going to happen, hence the early post. I hope I haven't lost my readers. Writting is fun, but if no one is reading, then it get's kind of pointless after a while. **


	13. Before It's Too Late

**A/N: ok, so this chapter…well what can I say about it without ruining it? Absolutely nothing! That's what. Anyways, thanks for the reviews you gave me for that last chapter. I'm glad my long break didn't make me loose all my readers.**

In a circle, the class sat with their faces long. It was the day after the funeral. Since things had been so hectic the previous week, with the reporters and death and all, the school decided to put off the visit from the grief counselor until today.

Fred, a short, balding man in his mid-thirties sat in this circle. He had worked with more devastated kids before, but still thought this group was pretty bad.

"In times like these, I think that it's good to reflect," he said. "Ben, though he was here only for a short time, had a good life. A life full of…"

Most of the kids in the class simultaneously thought the same thing at that moment: bullshit.

"I just want to get out of here," Raven whispered to herself.

"Tell me about it," Rachel said.

For a second, Fred looked annoyed. He closed his eyes so that no on could see them roll as he suppressed angry words with a tight-lipped smile. Patience wasn't really one of his strong points. "I'm sorry, but is there something you ladies wanted to say?"

Everyone in the class looked at them. Raven lowered her head. "No," she answered quietly.

Rachel, however, was never really one for silence. She stood to her feet. "As a matter of fact, there _is_ something I wanted to say, _Fred_. Or ask, rather. What's the point?"

"Pardon me?" he asked, confused.

Mr. Petruccelli, who had been leaning against the door, cleared his throat, warning her not to start anything. Of course, it didn't work. It was, after all, Rachel Green.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me. Why are we here? Why is the school _forcing_ us to talk to you? _You_, someone who's _forced_ to care because you're _paid_ to.

"I see what this is," Fred said with a very false niceness. "You're acting out because you miss your friend. You miss talking to him—laughing with him."

Rachel scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Next time, do your homework before you come here. Had you done that _before_, you would have known that I wasn't his friend. I barely talked to him and I sure as hell never _laughed_ with him. _At_ him a few times, but never with, and I'm sure the rest of the class is in the same boat. We were idiots and we _know_ that now. If we should be talking to anyone, it's each other!" She was almost red with frustration.

A few people in the class nodded in agreement.

"Now, I don't know about you," she addressed the class, "but I'm sick of this. I'm sick of being sad. I'm sick of being angry and I'm sick of being alone. If there's hatred here in this room, we need to work it out!" Though she was talking to her whole class, she was mostly trying to send a message out to her friends. This had all gone on for too long. Her eyes had a pleading look to them as she lowered her voice. "Please. Before this tragedy strikes again…"

Raven looked across the circle as Rachel spoke. Justin had taken it upon himself to push his chair as close to Chelsea's as possible. For a second, it had felt to Raven as if a rock had just fallen hard in her stomach making her sick, but that feeling was rapidly replaced by blood-boiling anger. Her two evil eyes fixed themselves on Chelsea, who had unwillingly caught a glimpse of it. Suddenly, _she_ was the one who felt sick.

"We need to talk out feelings out before it's too late," Rachel said. Oddly enough, she was interrupted by the bell. Most of the class looked hesitantly at each other before getting up to leave.

"Looks like it's too late," Fred said with a smile as he walked out of the room, leaving her to stand the alone.

---------------------

Raven quickly tried to walk through the schools parking lot. She was angry and on her way home early. She stopped when somebody grabbed her arm tightly just as she got to the sidewalk.

"What do _you_ want?" she asked when she saw who it was.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Rea," Chelsea said.

"Well I have nothing to say to you," said Raven as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why do you keep doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Treating me like this. Why are you always so _mad_ at me?"

Off in the distance, they could hear Chelsea's name being called. They looked over and saw Justin waving his car keys.

"Chelsea, if you're going home early, at least let me drive you," he yelled.

"I swear I'm not with him, Rae. I never was," Chelsea explained quickly.

"Oh really?" Raven's hands tightened into fists. "So then why did you guys look so close during the session today, huh? Why did you guys look so close after the _funeral_ or during class? While we were dating?" She asked.

"Justin's the one who like me. It's not my fault. I've told him I'm not like that. I've _told_ him."

Raven took one step backwards. "Well, I guess you didn't tell him loud enough. Maybe because you want him so badly."

"Raven, that's insane. You know you're the only one for me," Chelsea said.

In all the loudness, they began to draw a crowd.

"Bullshit," Raven said.

"No! It's true," Chelsea yelled.

"Oh, go to hell!" Raven stepped back again. With no more sidewalk left, she was on the road. She turned her back on Chelsea and started to cross it. That's when the tears started to fall. She subtly tried to wipe them away without anyone seeing. With her hands and tears in the way of her eyes, seeing wasn't so easy.

"Raven!" Chelsea called out.

'_Leave me alone_,' Raven said in her head.

Without another warning, a car honked it's horn. It was so close. So fast. And all she could do was stare at it, frozen with fear.

"Raven!" Chelsea called again as she moved with a purpose. She was faster in that one moment that she ever was in her whole life as she held her arms out with speed behind her, pushing Raven out of the way. She wasn't, unfortunately fast enough to save herself, she realized when she felt the painful jolt. Her body rose and fell with force as people rushed to help her.

Hovering over her was Justin and Eddie. "Are you alright?" Justin asked her. Eddie held on to her hand.

Chelsea tried to speak, but found herself choking on blood. She needed to know, though. She had to be able to ask. She tried her best to gain control of herself as she weakly asked through the blood, "Is Raven ok?"

But before she could get and answer, she saw the world go black. She was slipping away…


	14. Talking

It was so hard to deal with. It would have been so much easier to lock herself up in a dark room with her fingers in her ears and her eyes shut tight. So much easier than what lied ahead.

Jenny didn't want to have to deal. It was just all too much. First it was Ben's funeral and now _this_? As she continued to drive, at the end of the street she saw basically what she had seen not too long before with Ben. Young black-dressed mourners approaching the cemetery, preparing to lie to rest a fallen friend. Teens were crying everywhere.

Jenny held back her tears as she thought about the girl lying in the casket. A beautiful girl of 17. Deep brown eyes and long red hair, torn out of the world before she knew what was even happening to her. It was all over the news. Jefferson High, like Bayside, had lost a student. But _this_ girl didn't commit suicide. No. Heart failure. No one saw it coming.

Jenny exhaled deeply, glad that, for the _moment_, at least, Chelsea was still alive. She turned the corner and drove past the funeral, feeling bad for the Jefferson girl.

Minutes later, she arrived at St. Francis Memorial Hospital, where the Principal of Bayside informed her that Chelsea had been taken a few hours before. The nurse at the front desk told her that Chelsea had been rushed to the E.R. and that she'd have to sit in the waiting room for quite some time.

When she got there, she was surprised to see that among the people there, Eddie was sitting with Piper's head resting on his shoulder as she slept. As he took another sip of coffee, he lifted his head in anticipation when he heard close footsteps, hoping it was a doctor.

"Oh," he said, a bit disappointed.

"You must be Eddie," Jenny said, taking a seat not too far away from him.

"Yeah," he looked confused, "um…how'd you know?"

"My niece has pictures of you and Raven in her room. I'm her aunt, Jenny," she introduced herself.

"Well, it's nice to meet you." Eddie said. There was a bit of a pause after that.

"Have you heard anything, you know, about how she's doing?"

Eddie shook his head. "No. I've been here for hours and I haven't heard anything. It's not as if they _would_ tell me something about her condition. You have to be family, so I guess _you'll_ know pretty soon."

Jenny nodded. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"How come?" Eddie asked.

"Well, because I hear you all got into a nasty fight and stopped talking to each other. What made you want to come here?" asked Jenny.

Eddie put his coffee down on the table, careful not to disturb Piper. "Chelsea is my friend. What more do I need?"

Jenny smiled just as there was a knock on the door frame. They both turned around to find Rachel standing there.

"So, what did I miss?" she asked.

"Rachel, you made it," Eddie said.

"Yeah, I had to do some serious begging in order to get off work early, as if flipping burgers is so important." She took a seat.

Piper wiped the sleepiness out of her eyes as she yawned.

"You're awake," Eddie said. He kissed her forehead.

"Yeah," she yawned again. "How's Chelsea doing?" She looked over and saw that Rachel had joined them. "Oh…hello." Piper was a bit embarrassed, considering that the last words she said to her weren't every nice ones.

"Hey, Piper," she said back. This had quickly become such an awkward moment. Rachel decided to ease things a bit. "Look, you guys, I know we haven't spoken in a while but…

-------------------

She was unsure of whether or not she should go in. Raven stood scared, looking up at the hospital so much bigger than her. So intimidating. She turned away from it and began to walk in the other direction.

"No," she stopped herself. "I have to go in…but I don't _want_ to." Raven pulled on her hair as she thought. _'Chelsea would do it for _me. Clearly_, she'd do a _lot_ of things for me.'_ "Ok, I'm going in!"

Raven turned back around and began to walk toward the hospital. She took the elevator to the third floor. Just as she was about to turn into the waiting room, fear took hold of her again. She stopped herself from going any further and just listened to the familiar voices that traveled out of room through the door. The reconciliation of her old friends. They sounded as if they were getting close again. Raven thought that they probably would have all been laughing over a good joke at that moment, if it weren't for the severity of the situation.

Closing her eyes didn't stop a few tears from falling down. "There's no place for me in that group anymore. I've lost everything. My friends, my _girlfriend_…" Raven quickly peeped through the window at everyone talking. "They don't want me anymore, I'm sure. I bet they're mad at me because Chelsea's _in_ here thanks to me. Not that I could blame them. It's all my fault. Everything! Ben's death, Chelsea getting hit by the car," she shook her head. If I wasn't so concerned with myself all the time, none of this would have happened.!"

"Hey, did you hear someone?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe it's a doctor," Eddie said. "Let's go!"

The three kids eagerly got up and ran to the door.

"Raven?" Eddie asked when he saw her. "Man, I though you were a doctor."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'll get out of here," she said, turning around.

They all reached out and grabbed her by the arms. "No, stay." Rachel said.

"What? Why? Don't you all hate me?" Raven asked.

"If we did, do you think we'd ask you to stay?"

"I guess not. Look, I'm really sorry for what happened that night. It was…"

"Chill, it's in the past," Piper said. "Come on, let's sit."

They all walked back into the waiting room where Jenny now stood. "Raven Baxter," she said, shaking her head with a smile.

Raven looked confused. "Yes I am, but, and I mean no rudeness by this, who on earth are you?"

Her smile grew wider. Jenny walked up to her and put her arms around her. "Raven Baxter, it's nice to finally meet you!" she unwrapped her arms. "I'm Jenny, Chelsea's aunt."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot she was staying with you." Raven said.

In all of her excitement, Jenny, once again, threw her arms around the girl, this time whispering something in her ear. "She still loves you," she said through tears, "Oh, you'll never know how much that girl loves you."

A man at the door cleared his throat. The girls broke apart and everyone in the room that was there for Chelsea went up to him.

"How is she, Doctor?" Jenny asked.

"Um, well, we got her just in time. She lost a _lot_ of blood, but luckily, her blood type isn't rare."

They all breathed a sigh of relief and hugged, happy that things weren't as bad as they had originally thought.

The doctor cleared his throat again. "But that's not all," he said. "Um, see, when Chelsea landed, her head hit the ground with great impact…"

"How bad is it?" Jenny asked.

"What we're trying to do is…" the doctor was interrupted.

"Just tell me how bad it is!" Jenny sounded impatient.

"She's in a coma. We don't know for how long,"

Eddie and Rachel stepped in to support her when Jenny looked like she was about to faint."

"Let's get her a seat," Eddie said.

"I'm ok. I'm ok," Jenny assured them. Slowly, they backed off.

"I'm really sorry. Would you like to see her now?"

Jenny looked around. As much as she really wanted to see her niece, she knew someone who had to see her first.

"Raven, I want you to go before the rest of us." She turned to them. "That's ok with you guys, right?"

They nodded.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am," the doctor started, "But only family may go in."

"She _is_ family, Doctor," Jenny said, smiling at her. "Just lead the way."

Raven mouthed the words "Thank you" to Jenny and her friends as she walked past the window with the doctor.

He brought her through a few twists and turns before he finally opened the door to the room where Chelsea was lying unconscious in her bed and bandages around so much of her body, they might as well have just wrapped her up _completely_.

"It's good to talk to them," the doctor said. "Things like talking have been known to bring a few people back."

"Just talk?" Raven asked skeptically.

"Just talk." The doctor left the room to give them time alone.

Raven took a seat on the chair next to the bed. "Hey, Chels. How's it going?" She shook her head. "Stupid question. _Obviously_ things aren't going great, I mean _look_ at you. I can't believe you would just jump in front of a car like that for me. It must have hurt like hell." Raven smiled and put her hand in Chelsea's. "To tell you the _truth_, I would have done the same for you. I would have done it in a heartbeat, though with the way I've treated you over the past few months, you'd probably think I'd have pushed you in _front_ of the car. God, how did things get so messed up? I just want things to go back to the way they were before. I want us to be happy again and have all those fun times back."

Raven looked at Chelsea's face. She showed no sign that she was taking in any of what she was saying.

"Hey, do you remember that time you fought with Rachel's brother when you were dressed up as Charlie? We left the party, and got ice cream," Raven chuckled a little when she recalled how it melted all over her hand. "I still can't believe you actually dressed like a guy to be with me…and that when I found out, I let you go and almost lost you _forever_." She could feel her eyes burning up. For a second, Raven squeezed Chelsea's hand tighter as she looked to the ceiling, holding back her tears. "I'm afraid. I'm _terrified_. Chelsea, I don't want to lose you again." Raven stood up. She placed a kiss on Chelsea's forehead. "Please, don't leave me. Don't leave me! I love you."

**A/N: Um…yeah, I just can't think of another way to end this chapter off. Oh well, I tried. Yeah, so did anyone think that the dead girl at the beginning of the chapter was Chelsea? I just wanted to see if that would have worked on anyone. I know _I_ would have fallen for it, you know, had I _not_ written the chapter myself. Anyways thanks for the reviews so far and keep then coming. There are still a few chapters left.**


	15. Comatose Dreams

**Disclaimer: (hey, I haven't done one of these in a while), I don't own most of these characters. They belong to disney.**

**A/N: I guess before you read this, in order to avoid confusion, I should tell you that the first part of this chapter takes place in Chelsea's mind while she's in a coma. Now on to the story**

"She _hates _you", the familiar voice said. It followed her everywhere she went, never failing to upset her."They _all _do!"

Chelsea ran down the corridor of her aunt's house as fast as she could. She was moving so fast that everything around her was a blur. She tried her best to stay on her feet, but stumbled to her knees as she tried to open the first door that she could. She burst through it and found herself looking around, wide-eyed, wondering how on earth she ended up there.

"The grocery store?" she asked herself. Confused and worried, Chelsea paced the isles, wondering what was going on."How did I _get _here?" Her worried pacing eventually turned into mindless walking, which, after some time, brought her to the produce isle. She stopped, for a moment, in excitement when she saw two familiar faces, one of which especially made her jump for joy. "Mom," she called out. A broken hearted woman stood in front of Mrs. Baxter, who covered her mouth in shock, realizing what she had done.

"Our daughters are what?" Mrs. Daniels asked, thought she knew she heard well.

_'Maybe she'll take me back,' _Chelsea thought to herself as she gravitated toward her mother. "Mom," she said, but she didn't hear her. Chelsea repeated herself. Once Twice. It was as if she wasn't even _there_.

Mrs. Daniels dropped her shopping basket on the floor and covered her dropped jaw with her hands as she began to sob.

"Mom, please don't cry," Chelsea said. She put an arm on her shoulder, but it was never acknowledged.

"Let me explain," Mrs. Baxter said to the weeping girl. Mrs. Daniels cut her off before she could get another word in, though.

"She's dead to me," she said without looking up, in a voice so flat, it was almost as if _she _was dead herself.

Chelsea let go of her mother's shoulder at that point. "You don't mean that," she said at the same time as Mrs. Baxter. She was once again unnoticed.

"I have no daughter!"

Chelsea looked like she didn't know whether to cry or pinch herself in the hopes that this was all just a nightmare. Instead, she did the only thing her body could have done at that moment. She ran. Faster than ever before, right out through the grocery doors. She fell to the ground to catch her breath. Chelsea lifted her head up with a sigh. "Not again," she said, looking around at the sudden change. It was night time now, and she was nowhere near the grocery store she was so quick to leave. This time, she found herself in Raven's backyard. It was decorated in melted and burnt out candles. Dead red rose pedals led to the gazebo, where flies had taken over two rotting plates of untouched dinner.

"This is where it happened," Chelsea said, recalling the events of that night. The moment those two dreadful words, it's over, escaped Raven's lips. "This is where I died."

And suddenly, she could hear it. See it. Those words. That look of complete and total disgust. She saw herself, ashamed, staring at the ground as Raven broke up with her again. It's over. It's over. It's over! Like a broken record getting louder and clearer every time.

"Please, don't do this," Chelsea said, almost too choked up to even form the _words_. It was pointless and she knew it. It had finally sunken in that she couldn't be seen or heard. She didn't exist to her—to _anyone_.

The other Chelsea slowly trudged towards the house. Raven stood there for a moment, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I hate her," she said. "I hate you, Chelsea!"

She looked up. "You can see me?" she asked, surprised.

"Unfortunately, I can."

"Raven, I'm sorry. You have to understand..."

"What I understand is that my life would have been so much better if you never cheated on me..." Raven said as she slapped Chelsea across the face. Chelsea backed away so that she couldn't get at her, but Raven just followed and continued talking. "...If I never went _out _with you..." She slapped her again. "...If I never _met _you!" Before Chelsea could step back, Raven grabbed her neck with both hands and shook it with fury. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I wish you would have just taken your stupid love and given it to him in the _first _place!" Raven yelled as Chelsea's face went purple.

That's when the voice came back.

"She hates you. I _told _you she did!"

"W...who _are _you?" Chelsea struggled to say. Raven's grip was too tight. Before she could get an answer, she dropped to the ground and what looked like a see-through copy of herself emerged from her limp body.

"I'm you," said the source of the voice.

Just then the ground began to tremble. The whole _world _did, as something that felt even _stronger _than an earthquake began.

And then it all came crashing down...

-------------

Chelsea's eyes began to open. Right beside her was Raven, who was contemplating calling someone.

_'In a minute_,' she decided. Raven could faintly hear her heart beating in her chest. It was so unexpected. After a two and a half months of unconsciousness, she was starting to think that she would never come out of it. There was so much to talk about, she didn't know where to begin at first. _'It's been long enough. I think the relationship would be a nice start,' _Raven thought.

"Hey, Chels," she started. Chelsea didn't answer. She just decided to continue. "Look, a lot has changed. I realized that I was wrong and I really don't want _loose _you. You're the best thing to ever happen to me and, well..." she put a hand on Chelsea's, "I want to get back together," she finished with a warm smile.

Chelsea's hand trembled. Touching her reminded her of the horror story that had just played in her mind. Chelsea shook her head. "No," she said, weakly.

"What?" Raven was positive she heard wrong. She _had _to.

"I don't want that, Raven. I don't _want _you anymore."

**A/N: And just when you thought they were out of the woods... Yeah, I would have updated sooner, but I kind of began to cringe at the idea of updating anything. Since I lost Microsoft Word, writing hasn't been the best experience. Anyways, I hope you all liked this chapter. I know it was different and everything, but it's 5:56 am right now, I just pulled an all-nighter, because I had nothing better to do with my time and even though it's not my best, it definitely took the most amount of time (I actually wrote this down on paper first this time), so don't forget to review.**


	16. The Plan

"It just doesn't make any sense, ya know?" Eddie asked, sitting further back on the perspiring plastic white lawn chair, the day gradually getting hotter.

He sat in between Piper and his friend Rachel, who had invited them to hang out in her backyard, sipping lemonade as he tried to talk over the loud the roar of the lawnmower.

"I know what you mean," Rachel replied. "I thought that since Raven let go of the whole Justin thing, Chelsea would eventually wake up and things would go back to normal and we'd…we'd…" Fed up, Rachel leaned over the side of her chair to grab something. She threw a chocolate chip cookie at her brother's head.

"Ouch, what was that for?" Scott asked, dusting the crumbs out of his tawny hair. He turned off the mower and aggressively walked up to his sister's chair, arms crossed over his chest as he stared her down.

"Oh, come off it," Rachel said, smiling. "Number one: you know that doesn't scare me. Number two: I thought I told you to stop with that. We're trying to talk here, but it's really hard to do when that mower is on. Do it later."

"Dad's paying me to do this, so forget it," He said, smiling victoriously.

Rachel didn't hesitate to jump out of her chair and shoot back a stronger version of the dirty look that he gave _her_. Scott threw his hands up in the air and backed away, knowing his tougher little sister meant business. He mumbled something under his breath as he headed inside.

Piper and Eddie looked at her, a bit scared, knowing that messing with her meant serious trouble.

She turned around and rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "Siblings."

They both nodded.

"So, what are we going to do?" Piper asked, getting the conversation back on track.

"What _can_ we do?" asked Eddie.

"Isn't it obvious? We do anything and everything we can, and we get them back together," Rachel said. "Look, I know Raven still loves her and although she won't admit it now, Chelsea still loves Raven."

"How do you know that?"

"Because, Eddie, love like that doesn't just disappear, not even if you _pretend_ it does."

"That's what you think happened?" Eddie asked. "You think Chelsea's just pretending?"

"Well, it _could_ happen. I really don't know for sure, but here's what I've been thinking. We're seniors. Our prom is coming up, right?"

"Right," Eddie and Piper said, simultaneously.

"What if we were to get them to go?"

"It sounds good, in theory," Piper began, "but how are we supposed to get them to go _together_? Raven might like to, but would Chelsea ever agree to _go_ with her? It's not very likely."

"True, true," Rachel said, propping her head up on a fist. She used the sudden moment of silence to think of a way to work around her plans flaw. Without warning, the sound loud scream caused Eddie and Piper to jump in their seats in fear. "I've got it," Rachel exclaimed.

"We'll _tell_ us, don't _kill_ us," Eddie said, clutching his chest.

"Two of _us_. Why don't we get two of us to ask them to prom? We'll all end up sitting at the same table, we'll strike up the right conversations, ones that they could both really get into and voila, Raven and Chelsea are back together. Do I have any volunteers?"

There was a long silence after the question. "Oh, come on. _Somebody_ has to do it," Rachel said.

"_Ok_," Eddie said, briefly giving Rachel hope, "then why don't _you_ do it?"

"Me? Well…because…" Piper and Eddie smiled, waiting for and explanation. Rachel rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. I'll take one of them."

"That's good," Piper said. "We couldn't have done it anyways. Eddie and I are going to the prom together."

Eddies eyes looked off to the side at the ground.

"Are you?" Rachel asked. "Sorry. I just assumed that you wouldn't be going since, you know," she said, pointing to the girls figure. Piper was in her third trimester of pregnancy. It was a little risky, going to these functions.

"Oh, this? This isn't going to stop me from dancing with my man on such a special night, right Eddie?" Piper asked, shooting him a loving smile.

"Right," he answered, though his voice sounded unsure.

"Speaking of prom, I really _do_ need to get working on my dress. There was no way on earth I could afford to pay for a ticket _and_ an outfit. Not if I want to make sure me, my kid and my little brother are eating." Piper tried to stand up, but it was really difficult since the lawn chair was so low to the ground. Rachel and Eddie both stood up and pulled Piper up by her hands. "Thanks," she said to them.

"How are you even going to pay for the _materials_?" Eddie asked.

"You know Raven's good for that kind of stuff. She helped me out."

"I see," Eddie said. "Well, I don't even know if I'm going to have the money to go. I don't think I can pull 40 dollars for a ticket and then rent a tux on top of that. I've already forked over a lot of cash for this baby. I have practically nothing left, Piper." Eddie said, trying his best not to sound upset.

"It's ok, Hun. I know you'll think of something." Piper gave him a kiss on the cheek. With a wave to both of them, she was off.

Eddie and Rachel took their seats again. Eddie slouched and buried his face in his hands.

"Do I sense a case of cold feet?" Rachel asked.

"Is it that obvious?"

Rachel reached over and put a comforting hand on Eddie's shoulder. With a nod, she said, "Yeah, it is."

"I'm 18 years old. I…I can't handle this. I can't take care of a kid. I _am_ a kid!"

"Sorry, Eddie, but you got yourself into this mess."

"I know. I know. What happened last year, it was a mistake. Now I'm scared. I'm _terrified_ of this baby. This never should have happened. I just wasn't used to beautiful girls noticing me. They normally ignore me, but then Piper walks by. Out of all the boys at the party, she chose me. Me!" Eddie explained.

"So you just figure, 'this is never going to happen again, I might as well get as far as I can'?" Rachel asked.

"It wasn't like that. We hit it off immediately. We were so alike. I felt as if I knew her for so long. It's not what you're thinking."

"Relax, Eddie. I get it. You _are_ going to raise this kid, though, right?" After there was no answer, Rachel had to ask again. "Right?"

"I don't know," Eddie said. "I seriously don't know." Eddie looked up at the sky, sitting back in his chair again,

"That's cold," Rachel said, a bit disgusted. "You have to at least _tell_ Piper ahead of time. Don't do this to her."

"Look I'll handle it. I don't really want to talk about this right now. Anyways, which one of them are you going to take to the prom?" Eddie asked, changing the subject.

"Chelsea, I guess. I mean, I've known her longer. I know her better. I just don't know what we are going to about Raven's date. Who can we get for her?"

The both shrugged.

"Rachel, have you seen my boxers? The Scooby Doo ones?" Scott called out from his bedroom window.

"No, I haven't seen you're damn boxers, Scott, so leave me alone, would ya?"

He rolled his eyes and stuck his head back inside of his room.

Rachel and Eddie's eyes both opened up wide as it dawned on them.

"Scott!"

-----

"So," Jenny began, "what did doctor McLeod say today?" She felt the need to start up a conversation since the car ride home was unusually quite.

Chelsea finally began talking as the car turned onto their street. "Same old thing. 'Cutting is bad, 'You're worth more than you think,' and all that stuff," Chelsea said very unenthusiastically. "He said something about how I must be having a hard time coping with loosing two and a half months of my life and having all that school work to make up for it in one shot and blah, blah, blah. I was barely listening." The car stopped in the driveway and they both got out.

Jenny fumbled, getting out the house key. "You know, I'm not paying all that money just for you to sit in a comfortable chair. You have to be _getting_ something out of this…besides bored," she added in.

As Jenny pushed the key in, the door swung open. She sighed. "Chelsea, I thought I told you to lock the door before we left."

"I _did_ lock the door," Chelsea said.

They both stood at the front door, looking down the hall. "Then who's _in_ there?" Jenny asked.

She moved in front of her niece so that she could protect her from any danger in the house. She motion for her to keep quiet as she took her heavy purse into both hands, intending to use it as a weapon if she needed to. Hearing what sounded like a cough in the living room, Jenny moved towards it with Chelsea following closely behind.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked after seeing who it was.

Chelsea ran in front of her aunt in surprise. She wasn't sure that what she was seeing was even real, but felt compelled to ask. "Mom?"

**A/N: I just realized a huge mistake I made. I said in one chapter that the English assignment was on angels, but in the next chapter, I said it was on butterflies. It was supposed to be angles. I had this whole plot lined up before and it would have had to do with both, but I changed my mind (if you can recall, that's also why I changed the title of this story). Anyways, I can't belive missed a mistake like that for so long (I normally catch on to my plot holes early), but I did and I'll correct it later on. I can't stand taking chapters off of a story to repost them, though. Since this site changed its formant, unless I'm doing it wrong, I can't repost something without it going to the emails of everyone who put me on their author alert list. I imagine that must be annoying. God, I write long notes. I'll just cut this down. REVIEW!**


	17. Yeah, About The Prom

**A/N: Finally, eh? Anyways, I made up a name for Chelsea's mom since I'm convinced she doesn't have one. **

Chelsea quickly took a seat on the black leather couch, the furthest seat away from where her mother stood. A huge part of her refused to accept what she was seeing as the truth, but deep down she knew that her mother was really standing there, awkwardly in her living room. But _why_?

"What do you think you're doing here, Michelle?" Jenny asked aggressively. She hadn't spoken to her sister since the day that Chelsea had moved in. She begged her to change her mind. All Michelle said was that there was no place in her home for people like Chelsea. Jenny, with good reason, had been too disgusted to talk to her ever since.

Michelle threw her ands up in the air before taking small slow steps toward the couch. "Please, Jennifer," she stopped and looked at her daughter who trembled as she sat there. "I just want to talk to her."

Jenny turned around to see if it was what her niece wanted. After a moment of thought, Chelsea nodded and with that, Jenny left the room, making sure to give her sister a harsh warning stare.

"I'll be in the next room, Chelsea, if you need me."

For a moment, the silence seemed to have the strength of bulletproof glass, but Michelle was determined to break it.

"You're looking well, Honey."

Chelsea didn't say anything back.

Risking feeling even more uncomfortable, Jenny asked "So, has school been? Getting any star roles in the drama club?" She let out a nervous laugh.

Chelsea rolled her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore. "What are you doing, Michelle?"

This stopped her laughter.

"What did you call me? Chelsea, I am your mother. Don't think that you can just…"

"Oh, don't give me that mother crap!" Chelsea stood up as her voice exploded through the room, causing her mother to jump. "You disowned me. You acted as if I never existed and now you come here telling me that you're my mother?" She breathed deeply in and out as her face turned red with anger. Her fists were clenched so tightly that her nails left dents in her palms.

"Chelsea, listen to me. What your father and I did to you was terrible. I know that. I wasn't there for you at a time where you really needed me, but…"

"Yeah no _kidding_," she interrupted. "You weren't there at _all_. Not when you found out about me and Raven. Not when she dumped me. God, did you even come visit me in the hospital?" She crossed her arms over her chest as she looked directly into her mothers eyes.

"I did," Michelle replied. "Word got around quick that you had been hit and I visited you as soon and as often as I could."

"Oh really?" Chelsea asked sarcastically.

"It's true. It was hard, you know, because of your father. He didn't want me to go, but I knew that you needed me."

"Well you were wrong. I didn't need you then and I _don't_ need you now," Chelsea said.

Tears were getting ready to fall from Michelle's eyes as she spoke. "I know you must hate me."

"You've got _that_ right!"

Michelle stood up and walked to the front door. She wished that she could wrap her arms around her daughter, but knew that it wasn't the best time and she would only be rejected.

"I hope you work things out with Raven. I really _do_ want what's best for you. I _love_ you." That was all she said before walking out of the house.

Jenny quickly reappeared. She said something to Chelsea, but she didn't hear. She was still trying to take in the last words of her mother.

As Chelsea stood at the front door watching her mother slowly walk away, she suppressed a smile. She wanted to remain angry at her, though she liked what she said. It was something she needed to hear.

"Huh?" Chelsea asked after feeling her aunt tapping on her shoulder.

"I asked you if you were ok," Jenny said.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know. I don't really want to talk about it." Chelsea shut the door before pushing past her aunt. She just wanted to lie down in her bed and think.

Just then, the phone rang.

-------------

With a groan, Raven threw the teen magazine that she was reading across her room. By an inch, it missed the garbage bin. She had mindlessly flipped through the book a few times in an attempt to get her mind off of Chelsea. She knew that it would never work, but thought it was worth a shot.

"What now?" she asked after she heard the magazine hit the floor. Raven got out of her bed in search of something else to keep her busy. She sluggishly made her way down to the living room hoping that she might be able to find a movie that looked good to her.

She grabbed a stack of movies and began to go through them, tossing aside the ones she didn't like.

"Crappy. Crappy. _Worse_ than crappy." Raven sighed as her movie search came to an abrupt halt. After she put the movies back in their right spot, she decided to just sit and what TV for a while.

After a few minutes of channel surfing, she finally stopped on a teen drama. It was overdramatic, but she felt drawn to it.

'_Chelsea loved this show_,' she thought to herself. Raven tilled her head back on the couch and closed her eyes to lock in her tears.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and her eyes shot open.

Raven quickly wiped her eyes and walked towards the door. "Someone _always_ forgets their keys," she said annoyed.

Raven's breath got caught in her throat when she saw the auburn-haired boy standing at her door.

"Scott? What are you doing here?" she asked him

He swiftly shoved his hands in his pockets to cover up the fact that they were shaking. Scott knew that he wasn't on speaking terms with Raven since the night at his house and he deserved it.

"Hey, Raven. I…I just wanted to talk to you about something," he said nervously.

Raven didn't really care to listen to anything this boy had to say to him. Not after what he did to Chelsea. She rolled her eyes and started to close the door. Scott quickly freed a hand from his pocket and stopped her.

"Please just hear me out. It's really important. It…it's about prom."

----------

"Isn't it a little late to be out?" Chelsea asked Rachel. She had just gotten out of bed to answer the door.

"Yeah, I know it is. I'm sorry." Rachel stepped inside the house.

"Rachel, come in," Chelsea said as if she had a choice in the matter. She closed the door. "So what brings you here?"

"Well, as you know, prom is coming up soon."

There was a long pause. Rachel awkwardly started playing with her keychain, letting the clanking noise fill the room.

"So?" Chelsea finally asked.

Rachel wanted nothing more than to just get it over with. She hoped now more than ever that her plan would work. Chelsea was much more fun to be around when she was with Raven.

"So go with me," she spit out.

"What?" This came out of nowhere to Chelsea. For a moment, she thought that Rachel was there to try and convince her to go with Raven.

"Look, _you_ don't have a date._ I_ don't have a date. Let's go together. It'll be awesome," Rachel said, trying her best to convince her.

"I can't," Chelsea told her.

"What? Why not?"

"Because I'm already going with someone," she explained.

Rachel's eyes opened in shock. "With who?"

"A few hours ago, I got a phone call…from Justin."


	18. Dates

Rachel stood in front of Chelsea, wide-eyed and silent as she continued.

"At first, I didn't want to go, ya know?" Chelsea smiled as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "But as Justin spoke to me—as he told me how much he wanted to take me to the prom, it was like…like something went off inside of me and I think, for the first time, I really noticed him." Chelsea shook off the dreamy look on her face and freed her finger from the grip her long auburn hair had on it. "Try not to look too happy for me," she said, noticing the vacant expression on Rachel's face.

She snapped out of it. "Sorry. Sorry, I just wasn't expecting you to…It threw me, is all," Rachel said.

"You're not mad at me, are you?" There was a hint of worry in Chelsea's voice.

"Me? No, not at all." She forced a smile. "I'm happy for you, Chels."

"Thanks. I'm glad," Chelsea said through a yawn.

"It's late. I should go—let you get to bed."

"Alright. Get home safely," Chelsea said, opening up the door for her friend.

"See ya," Rachel said before disappearing into the night.

With a heavy sigh, Chelsea closed the door. She gently pressed her back against it as she lifted her head up to the ceiling. She thought about the prom—about dancing away the whole night with Justin and the tears began to fall.

------------

"This was a bad idea. I shouldn't have come here," said Scott. He asked Raven to the prom but she didn't respond.

The silence said it all. That's what Raven was hoping for because she knew that if she answered with words, it'd be a long night. She would have ripped into him for having the nerve to ask such a thing.

'_Of course I won't go to the prom with you. Not even if my life depended on…' _Raven's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a vision…

_Scott held Raven tightly in his arms as their bodies swayed slowly to the music. She opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of Chelsea standing there, watching in the crowd, looking upset. After Scott place a kiss on her forehead, Chelsea began to walk over to them… _

A smiled began to spread across Raven's face and she tried to figure out her vision. _'_ _Chelsea looked upset. Because I was dancing with Scott? Maybe. Scott was kissing me. She looked like was about to do something about it. There's still hope for us' _

As Raven snapped out of it, she realized that Scott was already making is way down the driveway.

"Wait," she called out. With her bare feet slapping the warm concrete, Raven ran after the boy. She grabbed him by the arm and he swung around.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to Chelsea and I'm sorry I bothered you. You won't here from me again," Scott said, sounding quite sad. He didn't look directly at Raven as he spoke.

"But you didn't even let me answer. I just came out here to tell you that I'll go. I want to go to the prom with you, Scott," said Raven. It wasn't exactly a lie, but she knew that it was for all the wrong reasons.

"Seriously?" Scott asked. The happiness in his voice was evident.

"Seriously," she replied with a smile.


	19. Lunch

With glum faces, Rachel, Eddie and Piper carried their very unappealing lunches to a vacant table at the back of the cafeteria. It was Monday afternoon and Rachel had informed them, a few hours earlier, of the bad situation.

"How can this happen?" Eddie asked. "Chelsea's not supposed to go with _Justin_. This is all wrong."

"I don't even know what to do now," Rachel confessed. "I'm all out of ideas." She half-heartedly opened up a cup of expired chocolate pudding before putting it down and pushing her whole tray away. "We have to do something."

"I know," Piper said. "But how are we going to get them together at prom now? Raven will never sit at the same table as Justin. We need to figure out a way to…" Piper stopped. She saw Raven approaching and knew the conversation had to end.

"Ok, which one of you guys did it?" Raven asked as she walked up to the table, clutching a slightly crumpled piece of paper.

"What are you talking about? Did what?" asked Eddie, confused.

She smoothed out the paper on the table and held it out for them to see.

Rachel read aloud:

"Valedictorian for the Class of 2006 Nominees:

Austin Deveau

Melissa Mullen

Raven Baxter

It wasn't _me_, if _that's_ what you're getting at."

Raven looked at Eddie and Piper and they both shook their heads. "Well then who was it?" Raven sat down. "Why would someone want me to be the valedictorian? I never even really thought much about _running_."

"It doesn't seem so bad," Piper said. "It's going to look great on your college application, not to mention how awesome it must be to have all those people vote for you."

Raven blushed and speedily perked up "Well, I am rather amazing, if I do say so myself."

Rachel Eddie and Piper looked at each other. This wasn't a side of Raven they saw too much of anymore. They liked it.

"Why so happy?" Rachel asked.

"I can't help it," Raven replied. She tried to hold back a smile, but it shone through despite her efforts.

"What happened," Rachel asked, scooting closer to her to hear.

"I had a vision, if you must know. A good one," she said slyly.

"Tell us," Eddie demanded, unable to take the suspense.

"Nah, it's nothing," Raven lied.

"Well, it's obviously not _nothing_. _Something_ good's about to happen," Pipers said.

"Better than good. Amazing! And that's all you're getting out of me," Raven told them. "Come on. If you're sick of gross cafeteria food, follow me to the Chill Grill. My treat."

"Your dad owns it. It's always your treat," Rachel informed her.

"Well today is special."

They all abandoned they unpleasant lunches and followed Raven out of the cafeteria. Just as the door closed behind them, Chelsea arrived, ready to buy her lunch and sit at the usual table in the back.

Raven's heart nearly stopped when she saw her walking toward them so unexpectedly.

"Oh hey, Chels," Rachel greeted her. "We were just on our way over to the Chill Grill. Did you wanna…"

"No!" Chelsea quickly interrupted her. "I mean no thank you. I'll just eat lunch here."

"Alone?" Piper asked.

"Chelsea, it's ok if you come," Raven assured her. She was hoping with all her heart she'd say 'yes'.

"I'm good with eating in the caf," Chelsea said, avoiding her gaze.

"You know what, Rea. I'll stay back. I'm kind of tired anyways. Eddie and Chelsea can go along," Rachel said. This was a routine. They couldn't all hang out together in one group now, so they always split up. They were all sick of it, but still kept it up. It was better than not seeing either of them at all.

"It's cool. I get it," Raven said, upset that Chelsea wasn't coming. '_Maybe this whole prom thing isn't going to work out, after all_,' she thought as she walked away with Eddie and Piper. '_She's going to hate me forever_.' Her heart plummeted.

**A/N: I've received a few corrections so far about how valedictorians aren't voted for, and thanks for them, but I'm only going by the system they use where I'm from. I can't speak for everywhere since I've barely been out of Ontario, but here, to become a valedictorian, you have to be nominated first, then give a speech on why you should be picked. And then there's a vote the same day (we don't have, G.P.A's either. Even people who's marks aren't that great can run). It's like a regular high school election. Sorry for the confusion.**


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